Fantasy Baseball Tonight 5/30; Prospects, Injuries, What To Do With Liriano?

Now this is what we expected from David Price when he came to the majors. Price was much more helpful to your team on Saturday as he allowed just one run over 5.2 innings, walked just two, and struck out eleven. Not much more to be said about Price. His owners exhaled after today's game after his less than stellar first outing. He still threw a lot of pitches, but the walks were much more under control.

It took four games for Fernando Martinez to record his first major league hit, and he followed it up with another in the same game. I was just about to lose hope that Fernando would be doing anything during this callup, so now I have a slight glimmer of hope. Of course, he did strike out in the ninth with two guys on, but overall it was a good day for him. Hopefully he was just very nervous his first few days in the majors and he will settle in now. I'm not buying that yet, but you can hope.

Matt Wieters was seventh in the Orioles lineup today, and he did much better in his second game. He had both a double and a triple, giving those of you who held on to him for nearly eight weeks waiting for this day some hope. Hope that having an empty spot on your roster for that time was worth it. All signs point to there being many more days like today than yesterday, when he failed to record a hit.

The lucky horseshoe has finally been removed from Shairon Martis' behind. He finally took a loss after a horrible outing, something he has been able to avoid his last few times out. But there was no way out of taking the first loss on the season this time, as Martis gave up two whoppers to Ryan Howard on his way to allowing seven runs over just four innings. He also walked more than he struck out again, and I don't see any reason at all to have this guy on your team. If he is, remedy that situation after you finish reading this. Well, maybe do it now and then come back.

Matt Palmer got another start for the Angels, and he made the most of the opportunity. This is almost definitely his last one barring an injury, as Kelvim Escobar isn't too far away. Palmer threw seven shutout innings, didn't walk a batter, and struck out five. Outside of a couple hiccups, Palmer was great as a fill in starter as he racked up a 5-0 record. It would have been his sixth win tonight except for the handy work of Brian Fuentes blowing the save. If there is another need for a starter for the Angels, you would think that Palmer has shown enough this year to earn those starts. But for now, it's to the bullpen for him.

Francisco Liriano has tested his owners' patience perhaps for the last time. Liriano was bad again, and took his seventh loss of the year through two months. It took him 93 pitches to get through just four innings, gave up four runs, walked three, and struck out three. I am torn. I think at this point you should let him go, but at the same time if he was available in any league that I played in, I would probably pick him up unless my pitching staff was very good. If you can afford to camp him on your bench and not start him, that would probably be what I do. If not, I would probably look for better options.

I know this isn't exactly timely, but Miguel Tejada is having a much better season than I expected....by a mile. With his two hits on Saturday, Tejada is now batting .347 with five homers and 28 RBI. If I didn't declare him done in the blog before the season started, I certainly thought it, but he has proven me wrong so far. That being said there is still four months left in the year, plenty of time for him to cool down, but in leagues that require a MI spot, he is definitely worth the roster spot.

Tonight is the perfect reason why if two pitchers are similar, you want the guy on the better team. Cole Hamels got a win tonight that he didn't deserve. When you give up six runs in six innings, you generally don't get the win. But Hamels did indeed get his third win of the year. So if you are thinking of picking up Tim Wakefield or Zach Duke (hypothetically speaking), this is the reason you pick Wakefield.

Aaron Harang has been good most of the time, but when he's bad BOY is he bad. Harang gave up eight runs over 4.1 innings, but on a positive note he didn't issue a walk and struck out five. This was his eleventh start. In four of them he has allowed five runs or more. In the other seven he allowed more than two runs only once. Keep starting him, and hope that the bad outings he has won't kill your week.

Injury News

Brandon Phillips returned to the Reds lineup on Saturday, and picked up right where he left off and connected on his eighth homer of the season. Phillips is attempting to play through a hairline fracture in his thumb, and so far, so good. Get Phillips back in your lineups tomorrow, or today depending on when you are reading this.

Joey Votto was placed on the 15 day DL, but apparently according to reports it isn't related to the ear infection he has been dealing with. This absence is due to "personal reasons" that they aren't going to disclose. Hopefully over this time Votto will be able to deal with whatever this issue is, as well as get his illness under control. He is eligible to return on June 14th.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.